Cleveland congratulations are in order for Mystery of Two. You can hear this city’s collective grunt of working for everything you have channeled in all the instruments. The guitar is subtly phenomenal, combining light reverberation at a schizophrenic pace with drop down 1992 distortion. The banged out pop of Nick Riley’s drums manages to bottom out when it wants (He is, in this writer’s humble opine, one of the best drummers to witness live – his face sweats genuine happiness when he swings his drum club). Not to mention that all the sympathizing with Pere Ubu is correct…

I find this band’s new wave post-punk full array of comparisons top be true. Weitzel’s voice does have that Byrne vibe (although most everyone forgets to mention Jello Biafra) – BUT I can’t believe that I have never heard anyone reference the inner-Nirvana bubbling right beneath the surface. The dirt, the energy, the raw insatiability that doesn’t quit? I know Nirvana is in there somewhere.

That being said, the record hits some mundane periods, mostly spurred by song writing and droning structure issues. But when the horns kicked in on track 5’s “Repeat It”, I was truly blown away – by far the most beautiful shining moment of this album. The voice manages to keep this record interesting while taking me to the place I love the best – Cleveland.

7.2 out of 10 boots